


books left unread

by clothwaltz



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: ESO 2019, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-28 06:29:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19806616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clothwaltz/pseuds/clothwaltz
Summary: Izumi wants to read. Chiaki tries to help.(for round one of eso!)





	books left unread

A frustrated huff escaped Izumi as he flipped through a few of the pages in his book. His former plans to sit back and relax with something he’s been meaning to read were being dashed on the rocks, all because of a single pair of misplaced glasses.

What was he doing? Did he really think the words would just magically grow in size if he kept squinting his eyes at the font, to no avail? What a joke. He didn’t want to be feeling sorry for himself like this, but the text being just a little too small for his poor eyesight to decipher was awful.

He shut the book, tossing it aside and falling back onto the futon with another huff. So much for taking a break.

Izumi wondered where his glasses could’ve disappeared to. Maybe he forgot them in his homeroom, or back in the locker room.. How annoying. He closed his weary eyes..

“Sena! Why the long face?”

Izumi jumped up at the sudden call to attention, eyes wide and startled. His shoulders slumped forward in relief when he realized it was just Chiaki, standing before the futon, but they were immediately straightened, and he set an irritated glare on the loud third year. You know. The usual. “What the hell are you so loud for? You’re supposed to be quiet here, you know!” He snapped up at him.

“Sorry, sorry!” Chiaki didn’t seem that sorry, and in fact, he was still using his outdoors voice. “But there’s nobody else here aside from you! It seemed a little unusual to me when I glanced in, so I figured I’d check up on you!” Chiaki was smiling like always, so bright and sunny and overpowering. It was infectious to all.. except Izumi. At least, he wanted to keep it that way. Grinning like some kind of dumbass was not for him.

He tried to not look sulky. “Well, I’m fine,” Izumi sulked, “so you can leave.”

“Huh? Well now I can’t possibly leave, Sena! You seem troubled?” Without hesitation, Chiaki sat down beside him on the same futon, now fully intending to stick around. Izumi felt his face warm at the action.

“Seriously, you..” Izumi faltered, the words coming out as a sputter; and he tried again, tone more rougher. “Seriously, you can drop your dumb hero gimmick. It’s not a big deal.” He avoided looking at him, hoping the embarrassment wasn’t too obvious in his expression.

Chiaki abruptly grabbed his shoulders, looking right into his eyes. “Sena, if there’s any sort of issue, I want to be there for you! Big or small! Please don’t hesitate to lean on me, Ryusei Red, Morisawa Chiaki.. ☆”

Izumi shrugged him off and away, flushed, going to grab the book he tossed aside. “You’re even worse than usual today, Morisawa..” This earned a laugh from the taller boy. “Aren’t you busy right now? Don’t you have club duties today?”

“We’re not doing anything important right now! There’s no need for concern.” Chiaki waves his hand reassuringly. “We’re just practicing drills today in the gym, so I decided to warm up by taking a walk, so here I am!”

Izumi relented with a sigh. “..Well, if you’re really gonna be nosey about this, it’s just that I lost my glasses. It’s not a big deal, but..” He let out a huff. “It’s really a pain in the ass, because I was planning to read something I’ve been meaning to start for a while now. If I end up not finding them at all, I’ll have to get a new pair, too. _So_ annoying..”

“Is _that_ what’s troubling you?” Chiaki hummed thoughtfully. He went to rummage through his pockets with both hands.

“Is _that_ how you respond?” Izumi snapped, instinctive at the tone he was using. “What are you doing? If you’re planning to give me money or something just keep it, because I’m not some needy child or whatever-”

“Here!” Chiaki produced his own pair of glasses and offers it forward, silencing a surprised Izumi. “Sorry if they’re smudged, I don’t bother with a case for them..” He sounded sheepish.

Taken aback for a moment, Izumi doesn’t take them from him right away. Chiaki holds it closer to him. “Sena, accept my peace offering! You’re embarrassing me by looking at me like that.. ☆”

Izumi abruptly snatches them away, not meeting the other boy’s eyes. “Just be quiet.” He examines Chiaki’s glasses in his hands; they were fairly simple, colored black, the lenses a little thicker than he was initially expecting. ..Was Chiaki’s eyesight that poor?

He hesitates, and then opens the glasses and puts them on. Izumi blinks, scrutinizing his surroundings in them, trying to gauge if they were good enough. A sigh falls out of his mouth. “...They _are_ way too smudged.” Chiaki wasn’t over exaggerating. He takes them off real quick, wiping the lenses down with the edge of his shirt. “You need to take better care of your glasses, you know. Especially if you’re gonna run around and offer them to any stranger.” ..Izumi was very aware of how hypocritical he sounded.

“But Sena, you know you’re not just “any stranger” to me, right?” Chiaki protested, watching him handle his glasses. “I’m helping a friend in need!”

Izumi huffed, but didn’t respond. He put them back on. Satisfied with how clear they were now, he grabs for the book, prying it open and flipping to the first page. Izumi peers at the table of contents..

..And discovers, much to his disappointment, that they had very different prescriptions. “Jeez, Morisawa, your vision’s terrible.”

“Senaaa!” Chiaki leaned forward. “Maybe you’re looking at it wrong. Here!” He abruptly clasps his warm hands over Izumi’s, who’s brain short circuits for a second, because it takes a second for a furious blush to creep across his face. Despite this, he doesn’t resist being touched. “Hold it farther away, like this..? Or actually closer..?” Izumi’s pushed and pulled. “Tell me when you’re seeing any better!”

“G-get off me!” He struggles out of Chiaki’s grasp, the thought that they were technically in a public place suddenly entering his brain right after the one that screamed that _this was beyond ridiculous._ “That seriously isn’t helping! You’re soo annoying!”

“Wahaha! Was I coming on too strong?” Chiaki smiles wide again, despite Izumi hurling insults straight to his face. “Sorry about that!”

“Ugh, you.. don’t have to apologize..” Izumi tries to fight down the fluttering feeling in his chest with a deep breath. “It just feels like you don’t know your own strength sometimes..” He says that, but all that Izumi can remember is how gentle he was and felt, despite how rough his palms were..

“Chi-chan-senpai!” Subaru’s voice abruptly comes from the doorway, footsteps bringing it closer and into the room. “There you are!” The second year comes dressed for basketball club, jersey and all. His gaze flits between Izumi and Chiaki. “I dunno if I’m interrupting anything important, but we need you for drills! Sari finally dragged Takamin out of the locker room!”

Chiaki comes to a stand, hands on his hips. “Oho, Akehoshi! You didn’t leave me to fend for myself this time? Come here, you~” He goes over to him, holding out his arms expectantly.

Subaru dodges out of the way, and Chiaki hugs air. “Hmm, thanks, but no thanks!”

“Akehoshi! You’re harsh! I’m getting cornered in a room with two tsunderes?!”

“Are you calling me a tsundere?” Izumi sputtered, indignant. 

“Maybe you shouldn’t go wandering off right before we start if you wanna be in my good graces!” Akehoshi admonishes him.

“An attack on both fronts!”

“That’s enough!” Izumi slings his pillow at him with an ill-tempered hiss, and Chiaki laughs.

“Alright, alright! If you waste anymore time I’m just gonna leave you here, Chi-chan-senpai!” Subaru puts his hands on his hips. “And stop bullying Sena-senpai!”

“I don’t need you to defend my honor or whatever, you know,” Izumi replied, settling back on his futon. “Just take this moron with you and go. He’s a hazard in this room.” He rolled his eyes.

“Don’t be like that, Sena! I’m welcomed here, just like anyone else!” He protests. “..But I won’t lie. I have to get going.” Chiaki tosses back his pillow, which Izumi catches. 

Izumi watches him for a moment, and then calls out his name. “..Hey, Morisawa, hold up. Aren’t you forgetting something?” Chiaki looks down, and Izumi gestures to the glasses still sitting on the bridge of his nose.

“Oh? Oh! It seems like I am.” He crouches, and once again, surprises Izumi by taking his glasses right off his face. Chiaki places them back in his pocket.

“Idiot..” He breathes out, exasperated. “You were really gonna walk away without them?”

“Well,” Chiaki laughs, “it’s because they really suit you, Sena. You look pretty!” He decides to risk it and go for a head pat, an act equivalent to playing with fire. But Izumi wasn’t paying attention enough to punish him for it.

His words are so earnest and simple.

Izumi was still blown away by them. 

Chiaki was always like this, so carefree and casual with his words and affections. Yet, no matter how many times he attempts to wear out such sentiments, the confidence he says them with always prevails over anything else. 

It’s scary to him, but it also coaxes another feeling in his chest. Naming it right now and right here would maybe be jumping the gun a little too suddenly for his tastes, but it’s not like he didn’t welcome it.

Of course, he refused to say any of this out loud. 

(But Chiaki could see it written all over his face.)

“I’ll be taking my leave now,” Chiaki says, his hand falling away, “But if you’re still going to be around by the time club hours end, I’ll run over and help you find your glasses! Two heads are better than one!”

“..Right.” Izumi tries to clear his thoughts. “Then.. don’t make me wait for too long.”

Chiaki gives one last smile. “I’ll do my best.” 

He waves, turning back around and following Subaru out the door, which slides closed. There are fading footsteps, the sound of Subaru poking Chiaki hard in the side as punishment and the yelp that follows, and then eventual silence.

Izumi processes everything in the wake of the loud, undeniably warm presence of Chiaki Morisawa. He’s forgiven the petty thing that was bothering him earlier, because even if it wasn’t solved in the end.. Chiaki stayed with him. It’s okay to be touched by those little things, right?

It makes him smile slightly, all to himself.

—

“Chi-chan-senpai.. Weren’t you a little too obvious?”

“Akehoshi?” Chiaki’s still rubbing at his side. “Too obvious about what?”

“..Huh. Were you just being your usual self?” What Subaru asks sounds more like thinking out loud rather than an actual question.

“My usual self? What did I do now?” Chiaki sounded way too innocent. He was also avoiding making eye contact with him.

Subaru gave him a look. “Okay, now you can give it up.” 

He was silent for a moment. Chiaki eventually let out a sigh, and rubbed the back of his neck with an embarrassed smile. “Well, it seems like it’s too hard for me to be hiding anything from you, huh, Akehoshi?”

Subaru’s expression doesn’t change. “..Too bad Sena-senpai can be just as dense as you about things.” He walks faster down the hall, intending to leave Chiaki behind.

“W-what’s that supposed to mean?!” He made a face, and ran after him a little. “Hey, wait up! Don’t ignore me!”

**Author's Note:**

> this is for the enstars shipping olympics: https://twitter.com/EnstShipOlympix
> 
> the prompt was discovery!
> 
> (i definitely rushed this, but i still had a lot of fun! thank you!)


End file.
